Quick-acting pipe vise



Oct. 23, 1956 K. T. DYCZYNSKL.

' QUICK-ACTING PIPE VISE 3 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Nov. 1. 1954 INVENTOR Oct. 23, 1956 K. T. DYCZYNSKI QUICK-ACTING PIPE VISE s Sh'et-SheetZ Filed' Nov. 1. 1954 INVELNTOR M TQ BY Och 1956 K. T. DYCZYNSKI 2,767,606

QUICK-ACTING PIPE VISE Filed Nov. 1, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent Ofiice 2,767,606 Patented Oct. 23, 1956 QUICK-ACTING PIPE VISE Karol T. Dyczynski, Erie, Pa, assignor to The Erie Tool Works, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 1, 1954, Serial No. 465,860

7 Claims. (Cl. 81-19) This invention relates to vises and more particularly to pipe vises.

iFor sometime, a need has been recognized for a qu ckacting pipe vise wherein a movable jaw can be rapidly moved into engagement with a pipe to be held in the vise and which will lock the movable jaw positively against slipping.

It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide a quick-acting pipe vise with an improved camactuated nut which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and simple and efiicient to use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pipe vise having an improved quick-acting nut which can be moved to release the movable jaw and allow it to move freely and automatically toward or away from the bottom jaw, the position being determined by the size of pipe inserted in the vise, and the nut can be moved to a locked position to allow the jaw to be tightened onto the pipe being held.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved movable jaw and nut for a pipe vise.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the function or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a pipe vise according to the invention, certain parts being broken away, certain other parts being broken away and shown in section, and the operating handle being omitted;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the vise shown in Fig. 1, the operating screw and handle being omitted;

Fig. 3 is a plan of the vise shown in Figs. 1 and 2, portions of the operating handle being broken away;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged scale elevation of the upper clamp slide;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged scale elevation of the movable J Fig. 8 is a fragmentary enlarged-scale plan of the vise yoke, parts being broken away and shown in section, and the quick-acting nut being shown in its operative position;

Fig. 9 is similar to Fig. 8 but shows the nut in open position; and

Fig. 10 is similar to Fig. 8, but shows another embodiment of a nut for use in the vise.

Referring to the drawings, a vise is shown having a base 1 and a yoke 2 pivoted to the base 1 by means of a pivot pin 3 which extends through a hole 4 in the yoke 2 and, likewise, through a similar hole in an ear 5 which is integrally attached to the base 1. At the other side of the vise and attached to the base 1, a similar ear 7 is provided which is adapted to be received between depending flanges 8 on a leg 19 of the yoke 2. A hook 10 having a tip 11 integrally attached thereto is pivoted at one end in a recess 14 in the leg 19 by means of a pin 12 which extends through a hole 13 in the hook 10 and, likewise, through similar holes in the leg 19. The recess 14 is made somewhat larger than the end of the hook 10.

The tip 11 is adapted to swing under a lug 15 and engage a lower surface 16 thereof to hold the yoke 2 in clamped position on the base 1. A lug 17 similar to the lug 15 is provided at the other side of the vise and, by making the ears 5 and 7 similar, the yoke 2 can be reversed; that is, the yoke 2 can be rotated one hundred eighty degrees around the base 1 so that a leg 18 can be pivoted to the ear 7 instead of to the ear 5.

The base 1 has spaced pipe bending lugs 20 and 21 attached thereto and integral therewith. The lugs 20 have downwardly facing concave surfaces 23 and the lugs 21 have upwardly facing concave surfaces 24. The downwardly facing concave surfaces 23 are adapted to engage the top of a pipe and the upwardly facing concave surfaces 24 are adapted to engage the bottom of a pipe so that an operator can insert a pipe between the two lugs 20 and 21 and exert a force thereon to bend the pipe. The bending lugs 20 and 21 disclosed herewith constitute an improvement over prior pipe-bending devices because here the entire pipe is in full view of the operator at all times and he is able to observe the progress of his work. Further, the lugs are conveniently located and readily accessible. A rearwardly extending portion 25 of the vise has spaced holes 26 therein which are adapted to receive bolts, screws, or the like for attaching the vise to a bench, stand, or other support.

The upper portion of the yoke 2 is shaped in cross section like an I beam except for an enlarged portion 30 located between web portions 33 and 34 of the I beam, said enlarged portion being bored at 36 to a larger diameter than a clamping screw 31. Between a flange 35 forming a base of the I beam cross section and the enlarged portion 30, the web portions 33 and 34 are provided with a slot 32 communicating with said bore 36 and with an enlarged bore in the flange 35, through which bores and slot, the screw 31 extends. The screw 31 terminates at its upper end in an unthrea'ded portion 37 which has a bore 38 formed therein which receives a handle 39 having ball portions 40 on either end thereof. A quick-acting nut 41 is made up of two half sections 42 and 43, respectively, which have fiat cam portions 44 and 45 formed parallel to surfaces tangential to a threaded bore 46 which is formed by said nut sections whenever the latter assume their closed positions. Stop-forming recesses 47 and 48 are formed adjacent the cam portions 44 and 45 and have fiat surfaces parallel to and offset inwardly from said cam portions, said flat surface being connected to the portions 44 and 45 by rounded corners 49 and 50, respectively. The recesses 47 and 48 are adapted to engage the webs 33 and 34, as shown in Fig. 9, in which position each section of the quick-acting nut 41 will be forced to its open position by a spring 51. The spring 51 is housed in bores 52 and 53 in handles 54 and 55 of the nut sections 42 and 43, respectively, distal ends of the handles 54 and 55 being held together by means of a rivet 56 which extends through a hole in each of the handles 54 and 55. Headed ends 57 and 58 of the rivet 56 may be disposed in counterbores in the handles 54 and 55 to prevent injury to an operators hand. The handles 54 and 55 are integrally attached to the respective sections 42 and 43 of the nut 41. The flat cam portions 44 and 45, at corners 64 and 65. which are located opposite the corners 49 and 50,

J merge into cylindrical surfaces 66 and 67, which are concentric to the threaded surfaces of the nut sections.

A jaw 61 is carried by an upper-jaw slide 90 which has channe1-forming flanges 91 and 92' on .each' side that overliez'thefianges 'of legs 19 and 18*. 'Ihe'upper-jaw carrying-slide 90is made'up of-two halves 94- and 95 which are held together by screws in holes 96 and: 97. The screws in holes 96 and 97 threadably engage threaded holes 98 and 99, respectively, in the half 95* of the slide 90. The jaw 61 is carried in a recess in' the slid 90 and makes contact with two downwardly converging walls 102 and 104 of the recess, and with alower end face 106 of the screw 31; that is, a fiat bearing surface 101 of the jaw 61 engages the wall 102, and a flat bearing surface 103 engages the wa1l104, while a fiat bearing surface 105 engages thelowe'r end face 106 of the screw 31. The screw 31 has a reduced journal-forming portion 107, which swivels in a bore 108 in the slide member 90, and has an enlarged foot portion 109 which extends beyond the bore 108 and engages the bearing surface 105 of the jaw 61, the latter having three arcuate and serrated work-engaging faces 110, 111, and 112, which are located between the flat bearing surfaces 101, 103, and 105. It will be noted that by loosening or removing the screws from holes 96 and 97 so as to separate the halves 94 and 95 of the slide 90, :the upper jaw 61 can be partially rotated so as to bring a different one of the serrated work-engaging surfaces to operative position, thereby extending the life of the movable upper jaw 61. It will also be noted that fixed lower jaws 70 and 71 are reversible; that is, either of them can be removed and turned over so as to bring its opposite serrated work-engaging face into operative position. Further, it will be noted that the serrated surfaces 110, 111, and 112represent three alternate sides of a hexagon, the intermediate sides of the hexagon forming the fiat bearing surfaces 101, 103, and 105. By forming the jaw 61 from hexagonal bar stock, no problems in indexing are experienced during machining.

When the pipe vise is in operation, the quick-acting nut 41 will be moved to the position shown in Fig. 9 to allow the screw 31 to freely slide therethrough. The movable jaw 61 will move down into engagement with the pipe and thereby adjust itself to the outside diameter of the pipe. The operator will thengrasp the handles 54 and and rotate the nut 41 in a clockwise direction. This will cause the webs 33 and 34 to ride out of recesses 47 and 48 and over the rounded corners 49 and 50 and against the fiat surfaces 44 and 45 which will start the female threads of the bore 46 into engagement with the threads on the screw 31. Then if the operator continues to rotate the nut 41, the webs 33 and 34 will ride over the corners 64 and and onto the cylindrical surfaces 66 and 67,in which position the female threads of the bore 46 will be in firm engagement with the screw 31 and the nut sections 4?. and 43 will be firmly locked against accidental movement.

When the operator desires to quickly move the movable, jaw 61 out of engagement with the pipe clamped between the movable jaw 61 and the fixed jaws and 71, he rotates the handle 39 slightly to loosen the screw 31. This, on most occasions, will also rotate the quick-acting nut 41 to release it because the frictional force between the nut 41 and the threads on the screw 31 will rotate the nut 41 with the screw 31. However, if there is insuflicient frictional force between the nut 41 and the screw 31 to rotate the nut 41 to an open position, the operator will rotate the quick-acting nut handles 54 and 55 in a counterclockwise direction. This causes the webs 33 and-34 to ride down into the stop-forming recesses 47 and 48, shown in Fig. 9, and allows the spring 51 to force the niitseetions 42 and 43 out of engagement with the screw 31 to allow the latter to be rapidly moved to any desired position. Further,.if the movable slide 90 is removed from the lower end of the screw 31 by removing the screws from counterbored" holes 96 and 97, the screw 31 can be pulled completely out of the nut 41 which can then be removed from the yoke and replaced by a sleeve nut 80.

The nut has slots 81 and 82 which are deeper than necessary to receive the webs 33 and 34 so that the nut 30 can be positioned within or removed from the web slot 32. For example, to insert the nut, a corner of either side wall of the web slot 32 is positioned within either of the nut slots 81 or 8-2 the nut slot 82 and the side wall formed by the web 34 being chosen for the purpose of illustration (see Fig. 10). The nut 30 can then be swung so that a corner of the opposite nut slot 81 will move past the oppositeside wall of the web slot 32 to allow the nut 30 to be shifted slightly toward said opposite side wall until the nut becomes centered with respect to the axis of the screw 31. To remove the nut 80 from the web slot 32, the procedure just described is reversed.

The foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention, the novelty of which is deemed commensurate with the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: A

l. A pipe vise comprising a frame, fixed jaws and a movable jaw supported on said frame, said movable jaw being supported on said frame by a screw and movable therewith, a quick-acting nut attaching said screw to said frame, said quick-acting nut comprising two half nuts, a handle on each said half nut, said handles being swingably attached together by means of a member extending through both said handles, cam means on said half nuts engaging cam means on said frame to force said half nuts into locked relation with said screw, said cam means comprising fiat surfaces between outer cylindrical surfaces of said half nuts, the fiat surface on one said half nut being generally parallel to the flat surface on the other said half nut, and each said half not having a second fiat surface disposed nearer the center of said half not than the first mentioned flat surface and connected at one end to said first-mentioned fiat surface by an arcuate surface, and an opposite end of said second flat surface being connected to an adjacent outer cylindrical surface by a shoulder, whereby said second fiat surface and said shoulder form a stop that will engage said frame when said half nuts are swung to their open and inoperative po-.

sitions.

2. The pipe visc recited in claim 1 wherein a force pro duced by friction between said screw and said half nuts will rotate said half nuts to said open positions when said screw is rotated.

3. A vise comprising a base having two fixed jaws thereon, an inverted U-shaped frame overlying said base and providing a bight portion and two spaced legs, lower ends of the legs of said U-shaped frame being attached to said base, a movable jaw, a threaded member for supporting said movable jaw, the bight portion of said U- shaped frame having a bore through which said threaded member extends and having an elongated slot communicating with said bore, said threaded member crossing said elongated slot at its minor axis whereby its major axis is disposed generally perpendicular to common longitudinal axes of said bore and said threaded member, a split nut positioned insaid elongated slot, said split nut being formed by half sections, cam surfaces on said halfnut sections for engaging confronting end walls of said elongated slot, said half-nut sections having threads engaging said threaded member when cammed into engagement therewith as said half-nut sections are swung to a first position and said half-nut sections being forced out of engagement with said threaded member as said halfnut sections are swung to a second position, and a handle member integral with each half-nut section, said handle membersbeing positioned in juxtaposed relation and extending outwardly from one side of the bight portion of said U-shaped frame.

4. The vise recited in claim 3 wherein said handle members are connected at ends thereof remote from said half-nut sections for relative swinging movement whereby said half-nut sections are simultaneously swingable around the longitudinal axis of said threaded member.

5. A vise comprising a base having two fixed jaws thereon, an inverted U-shaped frame overlying said base and providing a bight portion and two spaced legs, lower ends of the legs of said U-shaped frame being attached to said base, a movable jaw, a threaded member for supporting said movable jaw, the bight portion of said U- shaped frame having a bore through which said threaded member extends and having an elongate slot communicating with said bore, said threaded member crossing said elongate slot at its minor axis whereby its major .axis is disposed generally perpendicular to common longitudinal axes of said bore and said threaded member, a split nut positioned in said elongate slot, said split nut being formed by half sections, cam surfaces on said half-nut sections for engaging confronting end walls of said elongate slot, said half-nut sections having threads engaging said threaded member when cammed into engagement therewith as said half-nut sections are shifted to a first position and disengaging said threaded member as said halfnut sections are shifted to a second position, and to bight portion of said U-shaped frame being I-shaped in cross section to provide a web portion, said elongate slot being formed in said web portion.

6. The vise recited in claim 5 wherein said movable jaw comprises a jaw member having three flat outer surfaces defining three outer sides of a hexagon and being supported between two halves of slides supporting said movable jaw on said threaded member, said slides having two lower flat surfaces engaging two of said three flat jaw surfaces, said threaded member terminating at the lower end in a fiat surface engaging the other of said fiat jaw surfaces, and a serrated pipe-engaging portion on said jaw disposed between said two flat jaw surfaces.

7. The vise recited in claim 6 wherein serrated surfaces are formed between each adjacent pair of said three flat jaw surfaces, and wherein said halves of said slides are held together by removable means whereby said halves of said slides can be separated and said jaw removed and replaced therein with another of said flat jaw surfaces in engagement with the flat end of said threaded member whereby another of said jaw member serrated surfaces is disposed in pipe-engaging position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jackson Aug. 15,

631,013 1899 688,772 Eckard Dec. 10, 1901 875,302 Verdin Dec. 31, 1907 1,314,017 Pedersen Aug. 26, 1919 1,336,839 Hull Apr. 13, 1920 1,617,364 Bacon Feb. 15, 1927 1,912,390 Van Berkel June 6, 1933 2,005,162 Petersen June 18, 1935 2,318,566 Wright May 4, 1943 2,491,543 Alfonso Dec. 20, 1949 2,703,027 Petersen Mar. 1, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,283 Great Britain June 22, 1906 571,197 Great Britain Aug. 10, 1945 

